'Total Divas' Had E!'s Best Debut In A Year

Great news, fans of scripted reality television shows about narcissistic professional wrestling twin sisters! The ratings are in for Sunday night’s debut of the WWE’s Total Divas reality show on E! and it appears that we have a hit, at least for the time being. Whereas E!’s most recent behind-the-scenes looks into celebrity lives, including The Wanted Life and (my favorite) What Would Ryan Lochte Do?, were complete and colossal ratings duds, Total Divas apparently has a nice little following.

How nice? Approximately 1.3 million viewers, to be precise.

The 10 p.m. broadcast of Total Divas took in 885,000 adults 18-49 and a 1.1 rating among households, making it the most watched premiere since Married to Jonas last August. This comes on the heels of lackluster launches for other Sunday fare such as What Would Ryan Lochte Do? and The Wanted Life.

A midnight encore of Total Divas added another 700,000 viewers, 500,000 of them adults 18-49. (Via the Hollywood Reporter)

An interesting comment that one of you wonderful commenters posed in yesterday’s episode recap was something along the lines of, “Who is this show intended for?” and I stand by my assertion that Total Divas is sort of a hybrid that is bravely trying to rope in not only the WWE’s most loyal fans but also fans of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, which airs before it. At least that would explain why Total Divas was as heavy on the relationship nonsense as it was on the wrasslin’ aspect.

Either way, I did a little snoopery and found that the upcoming Las Vegas-themed episode – one of the lamest and most unoriginal realty TV tropes there is – will be focused on Nattie’s bachelorette party, but the Bella Twins will naturally bring their boyfriends, because John Cena and Daniel Bryan are going to be on the show plenty this season. We’ll also be getting more of Ariane’s boyfriend, Vincent (AKA Captain Eyebrows), as his delightful hissy fit over Broadus Clay making his woman cry was reportedly as legitimate as they come.

And the most obvious news is that the show will progressively become mostly about the Bella Twins and their boyfriends, because it’s E! and that’s what E!’s viewers care about. But if it means luring the Kardashitheads in for better ratings, then do what you must, WWE and E!.

My mother and my sisters have never had any interest in wrestling and they called me to tell me they watched the show. My mother said she felt really bad for Nattie and hopes she will be redeemed soon. I explained to her that WWE gave her a farting gimmick, and that the show is taped in advanced, and as of yet, Nattie has yet to be taken seriously on TV. She was APPALLED.

I think WWE has done a great job of making Nattie the sympathetic babyface of Total Divas. They even have her in the center of the marketing. And by the way, my whole family thought she was the most beautiful diva there. If WWE doesn’t ride the bandwagon and give her a heartbreaking redemption story, then they will have dropped the ball.

On a side-note, I watched the show as well and thought it was missing some Funk. I would have paid actual money to watch Brodus screaming “You suck” at Arianne. It would have made the whole show worth it. They need to get Brodus and Tensai on the show, ASAP.